I sat down with Ryan Lamke, who runs the Atlantic Council’s Veterans Advanced Energy Fellowship, a program that helps mid-career veterans in energy navigate federal policy. Ryan enlisted as a Marine infantryman and was in Fallujah within six months of leaving for boot camp. Years later, six months into his first job at the Department of Energy, he got back from his honeymoon and found out he was the new senior advisor on China.
Ryan says military tech keeps demanding more power. When he was in Iraq, Blue Force Trackers and IED jammers were the high-tech gear. Now ISR assets are directing the rounds and AI systems are working through the data, and all of it draws power. Battery weight comes straight out of a drone’s payload.
He got a close look at Ukraine through a classmate at the National War College, a Ukrainian Special Forces colonel. Jamming got so good that fighters went to fiber-optic tethers, and he says forests in the Donbas are now crisscrossed with cable.
This year’s fellows are working on energy at bases outside the continental US and how NATO allies structure their 1.5% infrastructure commitment. Ryan’s advice for veterans who want a career like his is simple: say yes, then own what you don’t know. “Everyone wants to pretend to be an expert,” he says.
If you’ve been treating the bases here at home as the safe rear area, give this one a listen.
Chapters
00:00 - Introduction
01:45 - Ryan’s Role and the Veterans Advanced Energy Fellowship
07:23 - Expert vs. Practitioner in a Changing Energy Space
09:46 - From Military School to Marine Infantry in Fallujah
13:40 - Getting Out: Wounded Warrior Project, Georgetown, and NASCAR
17:31 - Into Energy: Ethanol to the Department of Energy
19:29 - At DOE: From the Southeast Asia Desk to China
22:53 - Energy Security and Defense Tech’s Growing Power Demand
25:15 - The Battlefield Then and Now: Batteries, Drones, and Ukraine
29:49 - How to Get Involved: The Fellowship and Atlantic Council Events
33:17 - Advice: Say Yes, and Say “I Don’t Know”
Resources
People & Organizations
Kevin Doffing (LinkedIn)
Project Vanguard (Website - Newsletter - Podcast - LinkedIn - Facebook)
Ryan J. Lamke (Atlantic Council)
ELMS Advisory (Website)
Atlantic Council Global Energy Center (Website - Energy & Defense)
Veteran & Transition Resources
Mentioned in the Episode
Landon Derentz (Atlantic Council)
Dan Misch (Atlantic Council)
Greg Douquet (Atlantic Council)
Rick Stockburger, Foundation for Energy Security and Innovation (DOE)
Executive Order: Declaring a National Emergency to Secure the United States Bulk-Power System
DOE Office of Cybersecurity, Energy Security, and Emergency Response (CESER)
Dissolving the Fence: Improving Utility Privatization for Defense Installations’ Resiliency
Enhancing NATO’s Operational Readiness Through Energy Interoperability
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